Turkish Foreign Minister threatened that Turkey “will take action” against the Cypriot oil exploration, reiterating Ankara’s position that Turkish Cypriots also have rights to Cypriot resources.

Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Turkey’s energy and foreign ministries are working together to plan steps against the Greek side’s “unilateral” steps, adding that sending a drilling vessel showed the Greek side’s “insincerity” about reunification talks that failed last week.

The “West Capella” drilling vessel contracted by France’s Total and Italy’s ENI moved into position to start exploring for gas off Cyprus on Wednesday, the island’s energy ministry said.

Yesterday, Deputy Government Spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos urged for calmness and dismissed reports linking the presence of foreign naval forces in the region with the drilling activity.

“At this time, we should all remain calm and down to earth, because many of the news coming from abroad do not correspond to reality and create unnecessary fuss,” Papadopoulos said.